When Astrid awoke the next morning, she was clinging to Khaled, his soft fur keeping her warm and comfortable all night. The embers of the bonfire they made at night, still burned slowly, finding their end.
Khaled also awoke almost at the same time as Astrid and filled her face with licks, as he had with his younger brothers a long time ago.
"Wow .. Khaled!" Astrid complained, trying to wipe her face from the "kisses" she received. A resounding chuckle escaped Khaled, who soon rose to his feet and shook his whole body.
After eating breakfast, both decided to go explore the cave. Both Astrid and Khaled were curious about this rather mysterious place, hidden in the middle of the Black Forest.
If organizing they both went out to explore the place and as time passed the cavern became increasingly mysterious. In addition to the mushrooms that Khaled had found before, the two also found several other plants, many of them rare that could be used in high-level potions and rare medicines.
"Look at Khaled!" Exclaimed Astrid. "A narcissus eye! It can be used for potions of beauty and to extract the truth from criminals."
Narcissus eye was a small flower with a light blue color, its appearance was indeed lovely and emanated a small amount of mana. It used to be called this way because it always grew in inhospitable places, revealing beauty in the midst of ugliness.
Khaled was curious for the taste the plant could have and ended up eating some flowers.
Whenever Astrid showed some new plant to Khaled, he would try to prove it. Less when it was highly toxic, but if it was at an acceptable level it would still try to eat.
Astrid stopped trying to stop him from doing so, and was only amused by his reactions, after eating the narcissus eye, Khaled had his fur shining in the dark for some time. Making Astrid giggle for a while, she'd never had as much fun as now.
On their deepest journey through the cave, they were not able to find any living creature other than plants. Which honestly started to feel a little strange after a while.
Astrid and Khaled finally arrived in front of a division that went to two distinct sides of the cave.
"So.. to where to go?" Astrid put her hand on her reflecting chin as Khaled sniffed the air.
"The right side has ventilation, which can indicate an exit, while the left does not." Khaled replied.
"Um ... So we'd better find out if there's anything else on the left side before we go back and see the other way."
Khaled nodded in agreement with Astrid and they both went to the left side, wanting to find out if they could find anything. But 15 minutes later they were both standing in front of a dead end.
"What a strange place this cave is." Astrid went to investigate the walls, while Khaled sat watching her. "I mean, when I got here I could only find it because of a search spell. It was the plants that told me, otherwise I would never know."
"Even though I've been living here for more than 500 years in the Black Forest, I've never been to this place before." Khaled agreed. "It's really weird."
"But even if it's weird, I can not find anything abnormal." Astrid turned to face Khaled and his hand rested on a nearby stone.
The rock Astrid leaned on slowly sank and mechanical noises could be heard sounding right after. She stepped away from the rock and stood guard, and Khaled followed her lead. Much to their surprise, the wall that was a cul-de-sac burst open and a lit path with a strange kind of magic, could be seen ahead.
Excitement glittered in their eyes and as they turned to face each other they could recognize the feelings on their faces.
For the first time as they walked down that new path they found a trap. It was a mechanical trap that shot arrows with poison. And from that point on, a number of other traps emerged along the way, at first they were just mechanical traps, but magical armor and other types of powerful matrices came with increasing frequency.
Their blood was shaken with excitement, when they finally stopped in front of a last door, they knew it would be difficult to get through that door, but for that reason they were even more excited.
Together they opened the door and entered the dark room, the door closed behind them with a thud, red eyes gleamed in the darkness and then the lights were on to show an immense room where a single giant golem was sitting on a chair of stone.
Two wide smiles appear on Astrid and Khaled's face, their battle spirits were lit and ready to begin.